Willem Marx, a recent graduate from Oxford, dreamed of becoming a foreign correspondent. He applied for an internship in which he would "pitch story ideas" and "interact with the local media" in Iraq. That's how the U.S. government-funded Lincoln Group advertised it. Sent off to Baghdad with virtually no training, Marx was soon packing a loaded Glock and helping buy good press for America--$3 million in cash in his apartment safe and another $16 million coming for "news," PR and advertising.

President Bush's approval rating has risen to 44% in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll conducted September 15-17, 2006. This represents his highest marks in a year. Concurrently, for the first time since December 2005, a majority of people did not say the war in Iraq was a mistake.